When displaying fresh cut flowers it is, of course, desirable that the flowers appear fresh for as long as possible. The need to supply moisture to the stems of fresh cut flowers used in floral displays has long been recognized as one of the primary factors in maintaining a display for the maximum period of time. The fresh appearance of floral displays may be enhanced by adding a floral preservative to the water, but it is still necessary that the flower stems have continuous access to moisture, with or without preservative.
Of the many methods employed to provide water to the cut flower stems, the use of floral foam has been the most economical and the most successful. But even with the widely successful floral foams certain problems do exist. Perhaps the major problem is that floral foam blocks do not retain the fluid absorbed therein as readily when the major dimension of the block is disposed in a substantially vertical plane as they do when the major dimension of the block is disposed in a substantially horizontal plane. In short, there is a maximum vertical dimension beyond which the foam can not successfully retain the liquid absorbed therein.
Commercially available floral foams are formulated as an open-celled, phenolic based, thermoset. This product has the capability of retaining as much as ninety-four percent (94%) of the moisture that the cells of the thermoset floral foam are theoretically capable of receiving when the vertical dimension of the floral foam does not exceed about nine inches (22.86 cm). Accordingly, when it is desired to present a display that employs a floral foam block which is positioned with its major dimension disposed vertically, or near vertically, moisture retention is more difficult to achieve. Without sufficient moisture retention the flowers are unable to remain fresh for more than forty-eight (48) hours. By way of an example, when a floral display is presented from a conventional easel--which is normally inclined at an angle of approximately seventy-two (72) degrees from a horizontal frame of reference--the moisture in the floral foam will, if the major dimension of the foam is disposed at such an angle, drain from the display by the force of gravity, thereby permitting the flowers supported from the upper portion of the display to wilt. The display not only becomes unsightly, but the liquid within the foam can drain out of the foam and spill onto the floor.
To prevent the escape of moisture from pre-shaped floral displays, such as hearts, crosses and a wide variety of other geometric configurations, it has heretofore been necessary to reduce the head pressure of the fluid absorbed within the floral foam supporting the display by limiting the amount of water contained within the foam, by limiting the vertical inclination of the floral foam to a relatively modest angle or by providing a containment structure that substantially surrounds at least a portion of the floral foam. To date, the preferred method for retaining the moisture necessary to preserve the flowers has been to employ a containment structure that closely encases the floral foam. That is, a portion of the floral foam brick is encapsulated by a closely fitting wax dam.
To encapsulate the foam block with a wax dam in the manner exemplified by the prior art, the block, or brick, is generally dipped into a reservoir of heated wax so as to cover not only the base of the block but also the side walls thereof to a height compatible with the angle at which the brick is to be disposed when supporting a floral arrangement. This prior art procedure defines a reservoir within a portion of the foam block which contains the moisture that would otherwise escape when the block is inclined. However, the prior known wax dam structure is not satisfactory when the foam block has been fully saturated, and the fully saturated foam block must be tilted to such a degree that some of the moisture absorbed into the block can escape over the top of the wax dam. Hence, this method of moisture retention inherently limits the amount of moisture that can be retained within the block.
Another drawback to this method is that the moisture which is retained within the foam block will virtually all drain to the lowermost portion of the block within approximately twenty-four hours, thus leaving insufficient moisture in other parts of the block to maintain all the flowers in a fresh condition.
Another well known prior art method of providing extended life to the floral display is to utilize non-wettable foam wafers. However, this method is labor intensive and expensive. Moreover, a water reservoir must be provided for each flower, or small groups of flowers.